Claims of intimidation in Trumbull

Published 4:10 pm, Thursday, October 13, 2011

Sunday's Connecticut Post article regarding the intimidation suffered by those who dare disagree with Trumbull First Selectman Timothy Herbst barely scratched the surface of the issue. Missing from the article were instances of Mr. Herbst contacting employers of people who criticized him. These people chose to not bring unwanted attention to their place of employment and were therefore not included in the article.

Mr. Herbst can spin this all he wants. I was at the meeting from which Tom Collins was escorted. The officer clearly stated "the owner of the building" told him to remove Mr. Collins from the premises. Who else would have asked for police presence except Tim? Who else would have had the authority to have the police inside and outside? If he didn't request them, he certainly had the authority to tell them to leave. He didn't. At the time of the incident, Tim was quoted as having said he told the officer to remove him. Now he claims he had nothing to do with it? Of course there was no record of this -- Mr. Collins was not arrested, just embarrassed in front of his neighbors and his children. I chaired a contentious, angry meeting of 600-plus people without any police presence. It would serve only to intimidate. It is the job of the chairman to control his meeting, yet Mr. Herbst seems to feel it is his job.

It is also not the job of the first selectman to enforce Board of Education policy. If he had a concern about office secretary Amy Palmer, a "heads up" to the superintendent should have been sufficient. The "penalty" is a warning -- not firing. Mr. Herbst and his mother exerted a great deal of pressure to have Mrs. Palmer fired for a first incident. Why was she the only target if it was a pattern that concerned Mr. Herbst?

Cindy Katske -- referenced in the article but no details provided -- was sent an official letter on Town Hall stationery warning her about posts on her personal Facebook page. She had dared to be critical of the first selectman. Is Mr. Herbst trolling Facebook looking for criticisms of him so he can send such letters? Just what did he think he could possibly do to her other than intimidate her into thinking he could do something?

Thomas Kelly has already posted the nasty voicemail from Mr. Herbst in which Mr. Kelly is called a "coward" over and over again. Are these the kinds of messages a first selectman should be leaving?

How many have been frightened into silence by the same tactics and remain silent?

Mr. Herbst can claim all he wants that these are supporters of his opponent, Mary Beth Thornton. Readers of the Post will now understand why so many former supporters of Mr. Herbst have chosen to leave his team and support a mature, reasonable, consensus-building candidate like Mary Beth Thornton. Mr. Herbst cannot run on his record of broken promises, so let's intimidate voters into submission. Nice.